NEWS c-J 5753 1992 Postcard Collection Documents An Era ELANA SHAP Special to The Jewish News To All Our Friends, Customers & Relatives A Happy, Healthy & Prosperous NEW YEAR from The Milen Family "more than just a car wash" r $AVE $AVE AT I THE STUDIO r WHEN: THE DE TRO IT KATHY HACK WHAT: WHERE: 04 L 855-0650 Management and Employees Wish Their Relatives, Customers & Friends A Healthy & Happy New Year *re% HackSnoes ONLY DURING OUR SPECIAL EXTENDED HOURS, THRU OCT. 4 TUE., WED., THUR 6-8 SUNDAY 12N-5 10% OFF ALL SHOES & DANCEWEAR WITH THIS AD Orchard Mall Orchard Lake Rd. N. of Maple 26221 Southfield Road (between 10 and 11 Mile Roads) J (313) 557-4230 n 1948, the newly pro- claimed State of Israel had no well-oiled pro- paganda machine to take ad- vantage of the powerful im- ages of youthful pioneers tur- ning swamps into orchards or the heart-rending scenes of the Holocaust survivors disembarking at Haifa. Documentation of the era — black-and-white photography as well as film-making — was sparse, with much of the material filed away in damp basements and musty albums. A thorough testimony to Israel's historic past, however, has been preserved in Alain Roth's original postcard collection. Says Mr. Roth, who im- migrated from France 20 years ago and settled in Herzliya, "With no highbrow ideas of artistry, the result is an open window to the first solely Jewish world, using the widest range of images; a world of Jewish workers, ar- tists, builders and farmers and a world of Jewish holidays, where even trees were photographed for their biblical significance." Mr. Roth began his collec- tion in the early 1970s. While strolling around Jerusalem one day his eye was drawn to the window of a small shop displaying a postcard of young pioneers laying foun- dations for a building in new- ly established Tel Aviv, the first Jewish city. He speaks excitedly of the experience, "It gave me a special feeling, unlike anything the antique furniture I was collecting had ever aroused in me. These postcards had a tangibility which allowed me literally to relive the events." Mr. Roth, now a full-time postcard dealer, has a collec- tion of some 10,000 cards gleaned from all over the world. The postcards take one back to the port of Jaffa in the 1930s, alive with activity as crates of luscious Jaffa oranges are loaded onto a steamer; to Rishon leZion in the 1930s, when Culiars grapes arrive for the new vin- tage; and to the Haifa Soap Factory in 1925. A panoramic view of Haifa and the Carmel ridge draws us into the beauty of the yet undeveloped landscape. A pic- ture of a crowded Tel Aviv beach shows families wearing Alain Roth: A historic collection. antiquated swimwear enjoy- ing the pleasures of the seaside in their newly established state. A look at familiar Tel Aviv streets as they were in 1912 — crowded with horses and carriages — is particularly humorous; and Jerusalem's King George and Ben Yehuda Streets are un- characteristically unhurried, a solitary bus providing the only means of public transportation. A brightly colored three-dimensional postcard of Tel Aviv's Shalom Tower jolts us back to the present. Israel's holy sites are also recorded: "The Jews Wall of Wailing" and another, "The Mosque at Hebron Over the Cave of Machpelah." Pioneers also proudly pose at their "Colony at Rosh Pina" and young women are "Watering the Violets at the Nahalal Agricultural School." Memories of fighting the fedayeen (Arab commandos) and retaliating against the British are brought back by the solemn photograph of uniformed Haganah (forerun- ner of the IDF) members, completewith pre- revolutionary Russian karakul caps, standing, arm- ed, on a railroad track. The group of airl parachutists photographed on the march some years later, were already members of the new- ly established, officially recognized, Israel Defense Forces. "But," says Mr. Roth, "in a country with a past as old as the Bible, postcards have a long way to go to really be considered a part of history." ❑ WZPS